Culverts along the Sugarbush Access Road are scheduled to be paved this week, according to Warren Department of Public Works director Barry Simpson who updated town officials on the progress of the project at the October 26 select board meeting.

Simpson said the project that started on August 4 is "close to
completion." The project was originally slated to be completed by the
end of August. Now that it is almost done, town officials are concerned
about the quality of the paving done this summer and are also planning
for totally repaving the road.

Warren Select Board chair Andy Cunningham asked Road Foreman Ray Weston
for his opinion of the paving completed along the side of the Sugarbush
Access Road that G.W. Tatro was responsible for repairing.

Weston said, "It's hard to make it smooth by hand. It's low in places
and high in places. We've had rainy and cold weather. It's going to fall
apart."

When asked how long he thought the pavement would hold up into the
winter, Weston said, "The first time it freezes and warms up it's going
to come up."

Greg Tatro, owner of the construction company, said he thought the town
was overreacting and said the pavement would not come up after the first
freeze. In a phone interview on October 27, he said that when paving
past where a trench has been dug, the end result would not be a machine
texture.

"We repaved what we damaged and that's what was in the bid specs. I
think there was a little bit of confusion from the town before the job
started as to what was in the specs," Tatro added.

At the previous meeting, town officials discussed the road crew's
concerns about paving the road after it was torn up this summer and left
uneven in places. Select board member Kristen Reilly said that the
culvert project was completed in preparation for the repaving of the
road in two years.

On Tuesday, select board member Bob Ackland discussed what he called a
"remote chance" that the town could receive federal money to repair the
Sugarbush Access Road.

Ackland said contact had been made between Sugarbush Resort and Senator
Patrick Leahy during a visit last week about whether money was available
for the project.

"It's very remote. We need to know the total scope of repaving the road.
It's something we could maybe pursue if the stars align," he said.

The first step, he said, would be to "figure out what it would take to
bring the road back to where we want it. It's a stretch calling in a
chip from a senator. Is this the chip we want to call in or are there
other more worthy projects in The Valley?"

Cunningham asked Weston to explain the extent of the road damage.

"It's cracked through the asphalt. We need to put down new gravel. If
you pour asphalt over it you're just throwing money away," Weston said.

The total cost of repaving the road in two years, according to Weston,
could reach $3 million to $4 million including replacing the guardrails.

"If we have to do it ourselves, it's going to be broken into a lot of pieces," he said.

Town officials discussed completing a road survey, starting with the
Sugarbush Access Road, to inventory road conditions and needed repairs
on all town roads.